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Post-Mortem

The Space

Reviewed – 17th April 2019

★★★★

“Sharazuddin’s writing is sensitive and balanced”

We are all familiar with the potency of obsessive teenage love. But what happens when that love is slowly devoured by circumstance, leaving trauma in its wake? Does time heal everything, or are some wounds irreparable?

Such a story should be impactful, written with purpose and precision. It is best told by engaging actors who can deliver rich, emotionally charged dialogue. A bit of choreography wouldn’t hurt, either.

Iskandar R. Sharazuddin’s Post-Mortem unites all these things to tell the story of Nancy and Alex, a couple whose tender, obsessive love for each other declines in the face of tragedy. The carcass of their relationship rattles with secrets, but it isn’t until ten years later – when they are best man and maid of honour at their friends’ wedding – that they come to light.

Sharazuddin’s writing is sensitive and balanced, a mixture of dialogue and monologues that illuminate aspects of their relationship and character. The image of them meeting in biology class whilst dissecting a pig heart (which Alex can’t touch, apparently, for religious reasons) perfectly sets the tone for their relationship and its eventual disintegration. Metaphors – the pig heart, Nancy’s obsession with hoovering, the wedding sonnet – elevate their caustic, subtly humorous conversations.

Small details provide a deeper insight into the characters’ emotional cores. Alex worries that his peers will make fun of his Asian heritage and homemade biriyani; Nancy comes from ‘a family of liars’, including a Lithuanian grandma who sits outside McDonalds and shouts at people. This hints at their respective insecurity and secretiveness, however these threads feel somewhat loose in the tightly woven tapestry of the whole. I would have loved to have seen these instances revisited in later scenes, both for the sake of nostalgia and to assert the importance of these formative feelings in determining the course of their lives.

Nevertheless, this is compensated for by the evocative movement sequences, which enhance and bridge the gaps between the fragmented scenes. Performed across the length of a white stage, they are beautifully illuminated by subtle lighting (set/costume design by Eleanor Bull and light/sound by Will Alder). It casts their shadows across the high walls of The Space, making the movement all the more haunting and beautiful.

Sharazuddin also performs in the piece, alongside Essie Barrow as Nancy. The pair have strong chemistry, which is clearly expressed in the movement sequences as well as in the dialogue. They engage with each other and the audience; their frequent eye contact makes it seem as though they are talking to us directly. Sharazuddin’s Alex is sensitive, yet reckless, whilst Barrow’s Nancy is strong and decisive. Their character development is subtle and believable and leads to a satisfying conclusion.

The one disappointment with this performance is that it was not well-attended. It seems a shame that such a well-constructed show should go unnoticed, especially given the thought-provoking nature of its content. Once seen, this sensitive and profound show leaves an impression that is hard to shake off.

Reviewed by Harriet Corke

Photography courtesy Ellandar Theatre Company

Post-Mortem

The Space until 20th April

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

The Full Bronte | ★★★ | October 2018

Woman of the Year | ★★★ | October 2018

Little Women | ★★★½ | December 2018

The Dip | ★★★★ | February 2019

The South Afreakins | ★★★★★ | February 2019

FFS! Feminist Fable Series | ★★★★ | March 2019

The Conductor | ★★★★ | March 2019

We Know Now Snowmen Exist | ★★★ | March 2019

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

★★★

“a black comedy but with a triple measure of black and just a sip of comedy”

Sam, The Good Person is not only a one-man show; the only actor is also the only writer. Declan Perring as the eponymous Sam, performs seventy five minutes of intense, sometimes comic soliloquy set during group therapy, as he recalls his life story so far. It is a story that some will recognise in a small way from their own life as Sam desperately craves the approval of others, but the extreme lengths he goes leads to, lead to a lifetime of lying and deception, culminating in extreme sadness.

Perring offers up an energetic and solid performance of Sam, punctuated with other characters and interludes which signify the panic attacks which the ultimately dislikeable Sam begins to experience. In the show, a handful of people are conspicuously missing as Perring tries to animate each of Sam’s Mother and Father, his childhood friend, his stalker from his youth and lastly his girlfriend of five years. Like a general seeking glory against the odds and so taking the battles he shouldn’t, Perring’s valiant effort on stage only masks his decision not to give full life to characters who so clearly warranted it. Director Stephanie Withers is complicit in this merry action with Perring jumping up and down from his seat and switching voices leaving it unclear whether this is Sam’s internal vision of these people or a real flashback fashioned by a mettlesome writer.

With the script itself, there is yet more complexity from strong, meaningful themes with real depth intertwined cutting against cliche lines and characters. This is a writer and a director who understand the realities of how anxiety turns good people into bad ones, and how that tension unfolds in the moment. Sam is grappling not just with the desire to be liked but his own condemnation of that desire, and he is moved faster and faster as he ricochets off those two points. It’s, therefore, more unfortunate that, at times, the script slips quietly into cliches such as ‘being noticed by the opposite sex’ or ‘the drugs made me numb, which I liked’. This tidy shorthand inevitably picks away at the deep feeling of authenticity or even autobiography.

Sam. The Good Person is a black comedy but with a triple measure of black and just a sip of comedy for a perfunctory chaser. The play culminates in real, total misery as Sam spirals downwards and the jokes peter out. Perring and Withers whisk the audience from spiky one-liners into a modern tragedy and with all the inevitability and fatedness of an ancient one. An interesting play with tapered peaks of authenticity and personal meaning set between shadowy valleys of missing actors, the somewhat dislikeable main character and a twist at the end which is less M. Night Shyamalan and more “then I woke up from a dream, or did I…’

Reviewed by William Nash

Photography by William Alder